Opel Racing Lausitz preview

German Touring Car Masters (DTM) Preview - DTM Round 6 - Lausitz
EuroSpeedway, September 3
A breath of wind from America will blow over the Opel team when the
sixth round of the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) takes place at the
newly-opened ...

A breath of wind from America will blow over the Opel team when the
sixth round of the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) takes place at the
newly-opened EuroSpeedway Lausitz (September 1/3). The American style
circuit is not just the only oval track in Germany, but offers drivers
a new vastness and breadth that until now was only known across the
Atlantic.

"The facility is mega-gigantic," enthused Volker Strycek, head of Opel
motorsports. "We will experience a completely new atmosphere." The
staging of the DTM is the first race meeting on the multi-function
track. This makes the 4.5 kilometre Grand Prix course of the Lausitz
EuroSpeedway absolutely new ground for the eight drivers of the Opel V8
Coupe.

After a weekend with no points at the Sachsenring and two fifth
places at the Nurburgring, Manuel Reuter - in third place as Opel's
highest placed driver in the DTM points standings - has not lost his
determination to work hard for points at Lausitz. "We will fight on,"
declared the twice race-winner of the season. "The gap has of course
grown, but it is not yet impossible." In fact, the cards have all been
re-shuffled on the Lausitz EuroSpeedway as the Grand Prix Course, which
runs on the in-field of the triple oval is a completely clean sheet for
all DTM teams.

The official DTM tests on August 22/23 provided the only opportunity
of gaining an initial impression of the track before the race weekend.
"The preliminary tests were extremely important," according to Strycek.
"There was a lot to learn and to work out."

In the tests, only one driver took the asphalt of the mega racing track
below his wheels for the second time: Joachim Winkelhock (Opel team
Holzer) had entered the history of the Lausitz EuroSpeedway even before
the first race - as the first racing driver to drive his car around the
Grand Prix course. However, the victor of the Norisring has not gained
a test advantage by it, because the laps in the red Opel V8 Coupe only
served for photography and were completed at an appropriately lower
speed. "I drove round only slowly and therefore, could not assess the
circuit at all," explained Winkelhock. "But, I can imagine that a key
place will be at the end of the start-finish straight where you turn
from the wide, fast stretch of the oval left into the narrow in-field".

The fact that the stretch of the EuroSpeedway goes around to the
left, that is, anti-clockwise - just like the American pattern - may
be unusual for most of the drivers. The triple oval, too, the main
attraction of the 367 hectare facility, is orientated towards American
sports racing which will move to Lausitz with a race for the American
Champ Car Series from 2001. The EuroSpeedway can offer, in all, three
different types of course with the oval, the Grand Prix course and a
connection for long-distance races.

Volker Strycek is certain: "It is a completely new dimension in race
tracks, which offers so many options". During any one season you can
have three championship races and a completely different race track each
time."

The Opel teams Holzer (Uwe Alzen, Joachim Winkelhock, Eric Helary, Timo
Scheider) Phoenix, (Michael Bartels, Manuel Reuter), Irmscher (Christian
Menzel) and Euroteam (Stefano Modena) can look forward to an imposing
back-drop and the spectators to a completely new experience of racing.
The entire course is visible from almost all grandstand places - that,
too, is unique in Germany. "It is good to have a completely new track
in the programme", said Euroteam driver Stefano Modena. "That will
bring a breath of fresh air and show that something is being done in the
DTM".